Originally Posted by beadrunner
This is code for "I found another bike for less on Craigslist and want to buy that one instead"
Wow, your going to warrent or accept return for a 10 year old motorcycle with 37,000MI after 30+ days. Let me know when your selling your next bike! I'll take it. Hey, if you bought a bike for 3 grand, would you even consider contacting the seller with issues?
I think we have a winner here.
Honestly, I have been in both situations before, both as a buyer who got something that wasn't quite as good as I thought but I had to deal with it, and as a seller who let the "guilt" get to me.
Let me tell you a story, a few years back I had an Acura Integra, nice looking car except for a little body damage. I tossed it on craigslist for trade and someone contacted me with another car. I met with the guy and made SURE that I explained everything to him. It needs this it needs that, etc. The guy drove it, brought his "mechanic" friend with him who was standing there telling him all the stuff it would need, clutch, exhaust, etc. HE decided he wanted to trade, so I went with it. I took his car and he mine, I went and got the title transfered, the tag, etc. About a month later he sends me a text and says "hey, this car won't pass emissions" I replied, "yeah, I told you that" I went on to say "I'm very sorry for the trouble but I did let you know about all of that before hand" he says "no, it's illegal to sell a car that won't pass emissions, give me my car back or I'll take you to court" he was half right but I would have won the case as he agreed to take the car "for parts" which makes the sale legal. Anyway, my wife told me DO NOT trade back, he took the deal, it's his problem. Well, I slept on it and agreed to be the nice guy and trade back, he had told me that he'd spent hundreds on the car trying to get it to pass emissions and since he couldn't pass he couldn't tag it and had no car to drive to work. So, I met with him, took my car back and as I pulled out of the lot where we met I noticed a HUGE cloud of smoke behind me. Welp, he had spent some money, new clutch, exhaust, all of that but he had BLOWN the rings! So, I now had a car that skipped, smoked, and wouldn't idle!! I sent him a message and advised that I would be taking his car back since he had destroyed mine.. His response? "F you, you traded a piece of sh*t car, you got a piece of sh*t car" In other words, he screwed the car and then me. My nice demeanor bit me in the a** on that one..
Moral of the story, if we make a deal, it's a deal. Too bad if you change your mind, the minute your name goes to paper or your cash goes in my hand, it's yours. I learned that the hard way and I will not be making that mistake ever again. It put me into a situation where I was having to get rides to work from my elderly grandmother because I couldn't drive my car when days before I had a perfectly fine one. That car I got back from him had taken me back and forth for months, thousands of trouble free miles, so I know it was him who did the damage.
In your case, block the guys number and don't talk to him again, that is HIS bike now. You have done nothing wrong and you don't owe him a single thing.
I sold a fishing boat to a guy many years ago. I had sold my truck before hand and had no way to pull the boat anymore. Guy comes to look at the boat, asks how it runs. I told him it ran when I parked it (which was true) but that I'd had issues with it in the past and had to repair a few things here and there. It had been parked almost two years. I told him I didn't know if it would run, and could t promise anything. I offered to have him pull it up to the house so we could connect a water hose to it and test start it. He declined, said the boat was cheap enough he'd risk it. Well, it didn't start. He called me a couple weeks later demanding his money back. You know who sells $1000 boats? People who NEED $1000. I had paid my rent already. I suggested he take it to a shop and get an estimate, and I'd help pay for the repair. No deal. He wanted his money back, end of discussion. I offered to mail him $250 to ease his pain. No deal. He wanted his money back. Another week goes by, and I get a small claims summons. So I go to court, state my case, show that I had offered to help him get it fixed, showed a copy of the newspaper ad (that did not specify that the boat ran), etc. He just kept demanding I refund him. Small claims was a mediation deal before going in front of a judge. The mediator explained that the judge would definitely rule in my favor, but the guy was insistent. I made one last bid to avoid missing another unpaid day at work and told him I'd give him a crisp $100 bill to drop this whole thing. He finally took it after the mediator convinced him it was $100 more than the judge would grant him. I tried to be nice. I felt super guilty for the engine not starting. I wanted to make it right. But I think he just had buyer's remorse and didn't give a **** how fair I was being.
Now I sell everything with an extremely tight bill of sale. **** people. I'm honest. I disclose everything I know about an item I'm selling. I price things low to sell quickly since I don't like dicking around. If people want to come back at me after all that, they can go to hell. I've done my part.
It depends on how bad you want to sell your item. If you want to avoid these troubles you have to filter buyers, if you feel the buyer will give you troubles, just abort deal with him before he will be ready to buy your item. If you want to sell you item asap you make your Craigslist post tricky to capture first person, you might not hide item problems, but you do not make accent on these problems, instead of it you highlight good and promising things about your item, and this way is risky for you because of it captures wrong persons.
If you are not in rush to sell you item, make accent on ALL troubles the item has, even if it has minor scratch, post ALL possible troubles the item can have. Post All work has to be done to get the item work properly and be fully maintained. Post the pictures with all scratched and imperfections. Do not make a bunch of beauty pictures from angles to hide imperfections, do a couple good shots, it is enough, the rest should show troubles. The right buyer do not need good pictures, he knows how item looks like and what to expect from this item. If you feel the item may have new trouble in future, post it. Do not capture random buyers who thinks if the item looks cool on pictures and goes for cheap it will not give him troubles. Make sure the buyer understands all troubles the item has or can have, all work has to be done, make sure he takes all risks of unknown things on him, if he is not ready for it or if he is still debating after all given information, just abort deal with him and wait for appropriate person.
And remember, you have to care about buyer before the item sold, not after.
Last edited by TPEHAK; 05-22-2017 at 06:30 AM.
Not to flog a dead horse but: buyer beware--caveat emptor--ca·ve·at emp·tor
ˌkavēˌät ˈem(p)ˌtôr
noun
the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
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